KSRTC may soon lose word mark to Karnataka

Kochi: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC),  battling a severe financial crisis, is now on the verge of losing the right to use the word-mark ‘KSRTC’ on its buses.

The trademark registration application submitted by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation for the word-mark ‘KSRTC’ has been accepted by the Trade Marks Registry under the Ministry of Industry.

However, the Kerala RTC is making a final attempt at retaining the right to use the word-mark.

“The Karnataka RTC made the Trade Mark registration in January 2013 and now it has been accepted. We’re filing an ‘Objection’ with the Intellectual Property Appellate Board over the use of the brand name ‘KSRTC’,” said Antony Chacko, Managing Director.

A similar issue exists with the ‘Garuda’ services, also used by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation for its executive bus services, he said.

However, the management has no hope that it will be able to continue using its ‘logo’. “It’s well accepted even in apex transportation bodies like Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) that KSRTC means ‘Karnataka State Road Transportation Corporation’.

Our plea is to let us too use the word-mark. We’ve already marked ‘Kerala RTC’ for inter-state services,” said a senior officer.